The role of ecotourism in conservation: panacea or Pandora’s box?

Abstract

Abstract. Does ecotourism contribute towards conservation of threatened species and habitats or is it just a marketing ploy of the tourism industry? Using 251 case studies on ecotourism from the literature, I looked at the distribution of case studies over continents, habitats and flagship species types and what factors influenced whether an ecotourism regime was perceived as ecologically sustainable by authors. Over 50% of ecotourism case studies were reported from Africa and Central America. The overall distribution of ecotourism case studies did not reflect vertebrate endemism, nor overall tourism distribution in terms of tourist numbers and receipts. There were significant differences between continents and habitats with regard to the proportion of sustainable case studies: ecotourism is perceived to be less sustainable in South America and Asia, and in island and mountain habitats. The type of flagship species also influenced whether ecotourism was classified as sustainable or not: ecotourism with no flagship species was rarely classified as sustainable while charismatic bird and mammal species were associated with a higher probability of sustainability. In a multivariate analysis, flagship species type and local community involvement were important predictors of sustainability in ecotourism. Detailed a priori planning, local involvement and control measures were perceived by authors of case studies to increase the success of ecotourism in conservation. They also perceived that ecotourism can only be an effective conservation tool under certain conditions. If these are met, the evidence indicates that ecotourism can make a contribution to conservation.

How ecotourism works at the community-level: the case of whale-watching in the Azores

“…First, as is the case of many other ecotourism destinations worldwide (e.g. Kiss, 2004;Kruger, 2005;Quiros, 2005;Schellhorn, 2010;West and Carrier, 2004), it has created "new forms of exploitative class relations and uneven distribution of profits" (Neves-Graça, 2010, p. 733). Second, as is also usual in tourist destinations, it gave rise to a new arena of social competition and conflict between interested actors/social groups that affects social cohesion.…”

Mangroves and people: Lessons from a history of use and abuse in four Latin American countries

“…Costa Rica has a strong tourism sector and thanks to the high proportion of protected areas (World Economic Forum, 2013) and national laws in favour of ecosystem conservation, has maintained a successful ecotourism industry (Krüger, 2005). Therefore, total area of mangrove lost in Costa Rica is low compared to the other countries in the region, as legislation has proven effective in general (Jiménez, 2004).…”

Linking Agricultural Policies with Decision-Making: A Spatial Approach

“…The issue becomes one of the resilience of the environmental carrying capacity to support the demand for economic growth. While, for example, tourism may be a beneficial activity to some extent (Lacitignola et al, 2007), bringing jobs to certain coastal areas, the counterpart is rapid land deterioration as a result of seasonal population pressure (Kruger, 2005). The synergetic relation between economic growth and sustainable development is a very complex one, as the effects of socioeconomic growth influence the system (or region) in a non-linear way.…”